世界人口將於2050年達96億

A new U.N. report says the world's population is likely to increase by almost one billion in the next 12 years, with most of the growth happening in developing regions such as Africa.

The report released Thursday by the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs projects a rise in the global population from the current level of 7.2 billion to 8.1 billion in 2025.

The U.N. says the figure is expected to reach 9.6 billion in 2050, primarily on growth in high-fertility African nations and countries with large populations such as India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and the United States. In the next 37 years, the population of developed regions is seen remaining largely unchanged at around 1.3 billion.

The report says women in 29 African nations with high fertility rates have an average of five or more children.

The U.N. study says another factor contributing to population growth is longer life spans in the world's least developed countries, many of them affected by HIV/AIDS. It says life expectancy is projected to increase in those nations from 58 years in the 2005-2010 period to 70 years in 2045-2050.

Another key prediction in the report is that India's population will surpass that of China around 2028, when both countries are expected to have around 1.45 billion people. It also says Nigeria's population is likely to exceed that of the United States by 2050.聯合國一項新的報告預測，世界人口數量將在未來的12年裏增長近10億，人口增加的地區大部分在非洲等發展中地區。

聯合國經濟和社會事務局在週四發佈的這份報告說，到2025年，世界人口將從目前的72億增長到81億，到2050年達到96億，主要是因爲高生育率的非洲國家以及印度、印尼、巴基斯坦、菲律賓、以及美國這些人口大國人口的增加。

未來37年內，發達地區的人口將維持在目前13億左右的水平。

這份報導稱，在29個高生育率的非洲國家，婦女人均育有5名以上子女。

聯合國這份研究報告說，推動世界人口增加的另一個因素是最不發達國家人口壽命的延長。其中很多國家受到艾滋病的影響。聯合國預測，這些國家的人均壽命將從2005-2010年間的58歲延長到2045-2050年期間的70歲。

這報告中的另一項重要預測是，印度人口將在2028年左右超過中國，屆時中印兩國人口都將達到14.5億左右。